Tuscaloosa Police officer sues neighbor in dog-shooting case

The Tuscaloosa Police officer who shot a family's pet earlier this month has filed a lawsuit against a neighbor, claiming that she made untrue statements about the situation.

By Stephanie TaylorStaff Writer | The Tuscaloosa News

The Tuscaloosa Police officer who shot a family's pet earlier this month has filed a lawsuit against a neighbor, claiming that she made untrue statements about the situation.TPD Officer Mike Azwell is asking for $10,000 from Deborah Bosch, who lives next door to his mother in the Eastern Hills subdivision in Tuscaloosa County. Bosch is not the owner of the dog that was killed, but she did call Tuscaloosa Police and made statements about the incident, according to the suit filed in Tuscaloosa County District Court Friday afternoon.The "slanderous, libelous and defamatory accusations" have caused the officer "injury to his reputation in the community, embarrassment, humiliation, suffered severe emotional distress, loss of sleep, emotional pain and anguish," attorney Mark Morrow wrote in the complaint.Bosch had just received a copy of the lawsuit Friday afternoon and said she was not ready to comment.Azwell had gone to visit his mother at her home at 7:30 a.m. Nov. 3. He was getting off his motorcycle in her yard when two dogs approached.He fired shots at what he thought was a pit bull-Labrador mix because he felt the dogs intended to attack, Morrow said Friday."He did, in his judgement, what he thought he should, which was to shoot a dog that appeared to be attacking him," Morrow said. "Officer Azwell is a dog owner who does not take the killing of an animal lightly." Azwell owns a Doberman Pinscher and is comfortable around large dogs, he said.Azwell's mother suffers from a medical condition called cerebellar ataxia, which causes problems with balance, gait, extremity and eye movements, Morrow wrote in the complaint filed in Tuscaloosa County District Court Friday. Mrs. Azwell, who is four-feet, 10 inches tall and weighs around 100 pounds, is a "fall alert" patient, Morrow wrote in the complaint, which makes it dangerous for her to be around unattended dogs.Bosch, who lives next door, has a black Labrador that Morrow said pinned Azwell's mother against her house in April. Bosch made adjustments to the dog's shock collar and there have been no further incidents between the neighbors since, Morrow wrote in the complaint.On the morning of Nov. 3, Azwell had arrived at his mother's house when two dogs that lived down the street approached. Bosch's dog was not one of them."The brown dog was vicious and running toward him when he drew his duty weapon and fired at the brown dog, bringing it down," Morrow wrote in the lawsuit. "The white pit bull ran from the scene. The brown dog then got up and began to run toward the Plaintiff again and he shot the animal a second time, bringing it to the ground. The Plaintiff then fired two additional rounds to end the animal's suffering." The dogs were running free, in violation of the county's leash law, Morrow said.The owners of the dog that was killed placed fliers around the neighborhood looking for their 8-year-old chocolate Labrador, Sonic. A neighbor called and said that he had been shot. Owner Rebecca James said Tuesday that the white dog that was with Sonic is a Boxer that lives nearby. She said that she has never witnessed either of the two dogs act aggressively.According to the lawsuit, Bosch called TPD the day Azwell shot the dog and made several statements to dispatchers, including:"He told (a family member) he would kill my dog.""The dog didn't attack him, the dog didn't even growl.""He covered up the shooting by calling the City of Tuscaloosa Police instead of the County Sheriff's Department.""That dog was not aggressive, I never heard that dog bark.""Why does our tax dollar pay for him to sit up at his Momma's house for four hours to visit her while he's at work, to visit her, on the police motorcycle while he's dressed in uniform, why?""He has threatened to shoot my dog.""He's over here at his Momma's house drinking coffee, eating breakfast I guess, and visiting her. He can't visit her on his own off-day time."n "He stays there (mother's home) for three to four hours."Because of her statements about the dog shooting and his job performance, Morrow wrote, Azwell has been subjected to internal inquiry by the TPD and has been "falsely accused of a criminal and/or acts of dishonesty which he did not commit." He claims that the statements were made with malicious intent, in attempts to defame his reputation or cause his dismissal from the police department.The suit requests $10,000 in compensatory and punitive damages in addition to costs of the suit.